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The Project Gutenberg eBook of A motley jest
 This ebook is for the use of anyone anywhere in the United
States and most other parts of the world at no cost and with
almost no restrictions whatsoever. You may copy it, give it away
or re-use it under the terms of the Project Gutenberg License
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Title: A motley jest

Shakespearean diversions

Author: Oscar Fay Adams

Release date: December 27, 2023 [eBook #72515]

Language: English

Original publication: Boston: Sherman, French & Company,

1909

Credits: Carol Brown, Charlene Taylor and the Online

Distributed Proofreading Team at https://www.pgdp.net
(This file was produced from images generously made
available by The Internet Archive/American
Libraries.)emails: add dp-post@pgdp.net

*** START OF THE PROJECT GUTENBERG EBOOK A MOTLEY

JEST ***
A Motley Jest
 SHAKESPEAREAN
DIVERSIONS

By Oscar Fay Adams

AUTHOR OF “A DICTIONARY OF AMERICAN AUTHORS,” “THE

STORY OF JANE AUSTEN’S LIFE,” “SICUT PATRIBUS
AND OTHER VERSE,” ETC.; AMERICAN EDITOR
OF THE HENRY IRVING SHAKESPEARE,
ETC.

BOSTON
Sherman, French & Company
1909
 Copyright 1909
Sherman, French & Company
 to the
old cambridge shakespeare association
this
little volume
is
gratefully inscribed
 PREFATORY NOTE
The Sixth Act of The Merchant of Venice was first printed in the
Cornhill Booklet for March, 1903. The Shakespearean Fantasy now
appears for the first time in print.
 CONTENTS

I
A Shakespearean Fantasy 1

II
The Merchant of Venice 49
Act Sixth.

Note by William J. Rolfe, Litt.D. 63

 I

A SHAKESPEAREAN FANTASY
 A SHAKESPEAREAN FANTASY

Scene I.
An island in the Middle Seas. A cave is seen on the right and
before it, under a palm tree, Caliban is discovered sleeping.
[Enter Trinculo and Stephano, quarreling.
Trinculo. Since the day when the old gentleman they call
Prospero took it into his bald pate to disappear into air along with a
most goodly company beside, there’s not a bottle to be found i’ this
isle, as I am a good Christian, and, what is more, a good Christian
man’s son.
Stephano. Bottle me no bottles, Trinculo. Had we ne’er shared a
bottle betwixt us we had not been left to bide by ourselves in this
whoreson isle in the hard service of the man-monster, Caliban, but
might be in fair Naples at this very hour.
Trinculo. Sagely said, Master Stephano. Thou wast ever wise
enow i’ the tail o’ the event. An’ thou could’st have looked it thus
wisely i’ the mouth, thou hadst been a made man, Stephano, a made
man, and a householder, to boot.
Stephano. By mine head, a scurvy trick o’ the King to give us over
to a dog’s life in this heathen isle with a man-monster for a master,
and none other company beside.
Trinculo. More wisdom from that mouth of thine, most sage
Stephano. Thou art indeed become a second Socrates for sober
conclusions.
Caliban [awaking] What, Trinculo! Get me some food, I say, or thy
bones shall pay thy jape. Get thee hence at once, for a mighty hunger
is come upon me and I would eat. [To Stephano] Sing thou, and
caper nimbly the while.
 Stephano [sings and dances clumsily]
A lass I had,
A lass I had,
But I’ve a lass no longer.
She’s dead and cold
In churchyard mould
Grim Death he was the stronger.
Ariel [invisible] sings.
In churchyard mould
She lieth cold:
From her dust the violets spring.
To her dark bed
Have fairies sped
To sing her welcoming.
Caliban [alarmed] Methinks like music have I heard before
hen Prospero I did serve. And it should bode
amn’d Prospero’s return then were I slave
gain, doing his will in everything.
Stephano. What is this same that sings i’ the air without lips or
body?
Trinculo [returning with food which he places before Caliban]
Master Nobody is at his ancient tricks. An’ he be a devil, he hath an
angel’s voice.
Caliban. Retire ye both, for I would be alone.
[Exeunt Trinculo and Stephano.

Ariel plays softly on a tabor, scatters poppy

leaves and departs, leaving Caliban asleep.

Scene II.

A room in the palace at Naples.

 [Enter Ferdinand and Miranda.
Ferdinand. Admir’d Miranda, you are sad, and sad
m I you should be sad. Then will you not
eclare what canker eats your tender rose
hat I may kill ’t, or what untoward care
eighs down your spirit, that I may kiss ’t away?
Miranda. O, my sweet prince, my husband Ferdinand,
truth I am not well, and yet I am,
nd yet again I am not. What say I?
s no fever of the blood, no pain
hat speaks in sharp besetment which doth ail
e now. Not these, and yet ’tis somewhat, still,
nd when I bid it down ’twill not away.
Ferdinand. O lov’d Miranda, ope thy soul to me.
Miranda. ’Tis silly, sooth, too simple for your ear
heed ’t, and I unworthy of your love
waste a single thought on it. O teach
e to forget it utterly.
Ferdinand. O sweet,
nd so I will, when I do know what is ’t
hou would’st forget.
Miranda. And will you then forgive?
Ferdinand. I will, and yet I’m sure it is no fault
eeding forgiveness.
Miranda. You shall hear. In brief,
nce you will have the truth, I fain would see
nce more that isle where I beheld you first.
ght I behold it once again and but
or once, I then were satisfied, so you
ere by my side beholding it likewise.
Ferdinand. Would I might bear thee hence within this hour,
or that dear isle I love because of thee.
ut our philosophers declare the spot
as but enchantment rais’d by wizard spells
nd sunk in ocean’s maw when Prospero,
hy father, will’d it; never yet laid down
ood solid earth and rock on mortal map
nd chart. How this may be I know not, yet
ur sailors swear that no such isle there is
nd truly they should know their own realm best.
Miranda. I’m sure ’twas no enchantment.
Ferdinand. Save the maid
ho dwelt upon ’t, for she did cast a spell
bout me when these eyes did first behold
er there, and naught can take ’t away.
Miranda. Nay, now,
ou jest, sweet sir.
Ferdinand. No jest, I swear to thee.
Ariel [sings]
Where, O where,
Is the isle so fair?
’Tis far to the east,
’Tis far to the west;
’Tis here, ’tis there,
That isle so fair:
O where, O where?
’Tis everywhere,
That isle so fair.
Miranda. ’Tis Ariel’s voice, my Ferdinand, but whence—
[sleeps.
Ferdinand [drowsily] The voice we heard upon the isle long since.
weet sound, with poppies curiously mix’d—
[sleeps.

Scene III.

The island in the Middle Seas.

 Ferdinand and Miranda discovered sleeping on
a grassy mound. Soft music heard.
Ferdinand [awaking] With poppies mix’d—O, I did dream—but where
m I? ’Tis strange, and yet not strange. This place
o remember. Here Miranda saw
rst—
Miranda [awaking] How say you, husband, I have slept,
nd all I look on now is chang’d, and yet
ot so, for surely here I dwelt of old
ith Prospero, my father.
Ferdinand. ’Tis naught else
ut the same place, and we transported hence
erchance as playthings of some kindly god,
earing thy tale and loving thee.
Miranda. Sweet prince,
y Ferdinand, then do we wake indeed,
r is’t enchantment, and a sleep?
Ferdinand. I deem
truth, and be it thus, or not, in truth
s pleasant seeming, and we twain will fleet
he time as happily as when each knew
he other first.
[Caliban approaches, groveling
Caliban [aside] O Setebos, ’tis she,
amn’d Prospero’s daughter.—Mistress, if it be
hou’rt come to rule the isle I’ll serve thee well,
nd Prospero be absent. Him I fear
s I do dread the awesome thunderstone.
Ferdinand. Lo! here come other of his company.
[Trinculo and Stephano approach.
Trinculo. Behold us, gentles, two as unhappy wights as ever
’scaped a hanging, or death by attorney.
 Stephano. He speaks very true, as ’t were, now and then, and we
two honest men from Naples be now in most wretched case—slaves
to the man-monster, Caliban.
Thunder heard. Caliban, Stephano and Trinculo
disperse by several ways and Ferdinand and Miranda
retire to a cave near by.

Scene IV.

Another part of the same.

[Enter Prospero.
Prospero. My charms yet hold, though long disus’d, for I
tying Miranda’s melancholy plight
y magic of mine art have hither brought
uke Ferdinand and her that so the twain
elov’d may live their first joys o’er again.
ere shall they speed the time a full month’s space,
such wise as they list, and then, at whiles,
ill I for their beguilement cause to pass
efore their eyes, when they shall sit at ease,
eary of wandering o’er the mazy isle,
gures of men and women, such, forsooth,
s Master Shakescene writ of in his plays.
hese in their habit as they liv’d in those
ame plays I’ll re-create for their delight,
eopling a mimic world with mimic folk,
nd making so this desert populous.
[Exit.

Scene V.

Another part of the same.

A grassy space shaded by palms, before a cave at whose entrance
Ferdinand and Miranda are discovered playing chess.
 Miranda. O Ferdinand, the play was mine.
Ferdinand. I thought
was mine, but it shall e’en be as you will;
take it back.
Miranda. Indeed, you should not, prince,
or whatso’er you do it seemeth right
me, and now I see I did mistake.
ood sooth, I will not have it back. I say,
will not have it back—but what are these
nding their steps this way? a halting pair.
[Enter Nurse and Peter.
Nurse. Peter!
Peter. Anon.
Nurse. Take my cloak, Peter. Truly the sun’s heat hath made me
all of a quiver, as they say. Marry I would e’en taste a little food before
I go a step more. I’ll warrant you we are many a mile from Verona by
this.
Peter. A good mile, I take it, for I was never in this place before
that I wot of.
Nurse. Say’st thou so, Peter?
Peter. Marry, that do I, and will answer to ’t before any of
womankind, and any of mankind too, that be less lusty than I.
Nurse. Peter!
Peter. Anon.
Nurse. Some food, Peter, and presently.
Peter. Here be strange fruits whose use I know not. A serving
man of the young county Paris’s did to my knowing eat an apple that
was brought from afar in a ship’s stomach, being a lusty youth and tall
and much given to victual, and he did swell to bursting and died
thereof while one might count thirteen by the clock. He made a
fearsome dead body, as the saying is.
Nurse. Peter.
 Peter. Anon.
Nurse. Thou shalt taste these fruits for me singly and in order,
good Peter, and if no such harm come to thee as thou pratest of, then
will I eat likewise.
Peter. Nay, but nurse, good nurse, good lady nurse—
Nurse. Hold thy peace, thou scurvy knave. Would’st suffer me to
go nigh to death for lack of food and thou stand by the while like a
jack o’ the clock when his hour has struck? Out upon thee, and do my
pleasure quickly.
[Enter Mercutio and Romeo.
Mercutio. Here’s fine matter toward. Thy Juliet’s nurse, and her
man Peter, quarrelling.
Nurse. God ye good den, gentlemen.
Mercutio. God ye good morrow, most ancient, and most fair
ancient lady. Thy five wits, meseems, are gone far astray the whiles.
Nurse. Is it but good morrow? I had sworn ’twere long past noon,
but, indeed, in this strange place, as one may say, there’s no telling so
simple a circumstance as the time of day.
Romeo. Many things there be of which there’s no telling, such as
the number of times a maid will say no, when her mind is to say yes;
how many days the wind will sit i’ the east when one would desire fair
weather; and how many years the toothless grandsire will wither out a
young man’s revenue.
Nurse. That is all very wisely said, good sir. Are you that he they
call the young Romeo?
Mercutio. He is rightly called Romeo, but as for his youth, if
knavery be not left out of the count, why then was Methusaleh a very
babe to him, a suckling babe.
Nurse. Say you so? Then will I tell my lady Juliet so much, an’ I
can come by her in this heathen place.
Mercutio. Most ancient lady, yon Romeo would deceive the devil
himself.
 Nurse. Beshrew my heart. Then were my young mistress (who, to
be sure, is no kind of a devil at all, saving your presences), led
straight to a fool’s paradise. She shall know, and presently, what a
piece of man he is.
Mercutio [seeing Miranda and Ferdinand.
Romeo the young; young Romeo,
orget thy Juliet but a space, for here
lady is, fairer than Juliet, [pointing to Miranda]
nd mine eyes serve me truly.
Romeo. O how rare
ne pearl’s esteem’d until another’s found,
hile that becomes the chief, till straight a third
hines forth. So is’t with me. When Rosaline
aw no lesser she might then with her
ompare. Next Juliet came athwart my sight,
nd her I lov’d, forgetting Rosaline.
ut now is Capulet’s young daughter sped
om forth my heart and in her place this fair
nknown in Juliet’s stead is worshipped.
[He seems about to approach Miranda, but
is withheld by Mercutio.
Mercutio. Inconstant Romeo, have a care. For me,
hink her wed, and that the husband there,
ay have a word to change with thee.
Romeo. Prate not
me of husbands, my Mercutio—
Mercutio. Have peace, rash Romeo, thou—But who comes here?
[Enter Ophelia, strewing flowers.
oor, tearful lady! See, she weeps, and smiles
weeping, wrings her hand, and smiles again.
Romeo. She makes as if to speak to us, poor soul.
Ophelia. This is All Hallow Eve. They say to-night each Jill may
see her Jack that is to come. But these be idle tales to juggle us poor